Decorative sewing device by the automatic zig-zag sewing machine



J1me 1966 AKIRA HAYASAKI 3,256,843

DECORATIVE SEWING DEVICE BY THE AUTOMATIC ZIG-ZAG' SEWING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

14 fr 1% 056 41 WQMQMz/M June 21, 1966 AKIRA HAYASAKI 3,256,843

DECORATIVE SEWING DEVICE BY THE AUTOMATIC ZIG-ZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 BY Abra Ha asali AMI NM ATTdRMEKS J1me 1966 AKIRA HAYASAKI 3,256,843

DECORATIVE SEWING DEVICE BY THE AUTOMATIC ZIG-ZAG SEWING MACHINE Filed July 29, 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTOR. BY 416m 1% asah MM, WWW! ATmwm s June 21, 1966 AKIRA HAYASAKI 3,256,843

DECORATIVE SEWING DEVICE BY THE AUTOMATIC ZIG-ZAG SEWING MACHINE Flled July 29. 1963 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Fig.4

A HINVENZOR, BY kird a a I MQJz/M ATM/ways United States Patent 3,256,843 DECORATIVE SEWING DEVICE BY THE AUTO- MATIC ZIG-ZAG SEWING MACHINE Akira Hayasaki, 14/1922 Takamiya-cho, Hikone, Shiga Prefecture, Japan Filed July 29, 1963, Ser. No. 298,068 Claims priority, application Japan, Apr. 6, 1963, 38/25,777 1 Claim. (Cl. 112-458) This invention relates to an automatic decorative sewing device driven by the changing swings of the sewing needle of a zig-zag sewing machine, the swing of the needle of which can be controlled. It comprises a suitable number of cams, a swinging frame which has 'a cam contacting finger that contacts one of the cams and swings in accordance with the unevenness of the contacted'cam, the device that transmits the movement of the said swinging frame to the swing control mechanism of the sewing needle, a selecting mechanism which separates the said contacting finger from its contacting surface and makes it bear on a chosen cam, and a device to show the decorative sewing produced by the chosen cam. With this device, decorative sewing can be automatically performed with ease by the built-in cams. The object of the present invention is to provide a cam follow adjusting means for an automatic decorative sewing device, wherein .the selection and alteration of any one of a plurality of pre-arranged decorative patterns are performed with precision and promptitude by a simple operation, freely permitting such an alteration even while working, and in which the decorative pattern made by the selected cam is indicated on the front of the arm of the sewing machine.

Other preferred features and advantages of the device will be discussed in the following description of the presently preferred embodiment of the invention shown in the accompanying drawings which comprise the following views:

FIGURE 1 is an elevation of the sewing machine.

FIGURE 2 is a plan view of part of the top of the arm showing the essential parts of the present invention with the cover of the arm of the said sewing machine removed.

FIGURE 3 is a sectional elevation taken along the line 1-1 of FIGURE 2.

FIGURE 4 is a section taken along the line 22'-2 of FIGURE 3.

FIGURE 5 is a section taken along the line 33'-3 of FIGURE 3.

As shown in FIGURE 4, a hollow shaft 11' is positioned within the machine arm 11, being at a right angle with the upper shaft 12, which causes the needle to move up and down and other movements, and is mounted on the back wall of the arm 11, while the sleeve 22" is fixed to the support 22 which is. fastened to the inside of the front wall 22 of the arm 11. The hollow shaft 11 and sleeve 22" support the knob shaft 24 on which is mounted the pointer of a dial 23 so the said knob shaft is freely rotatable and slidable axially, while to the hollow shaft 11 and sleeve 22" is fastened the L-shaped cam support frame 26 by the set screws 26 and to the said support frame 26 is fastened the cam shaft '13 by the set screw 13 as shown in FIGURE 3. Shaft 13 has a body thereon in the form of several cams 14' which have uneven surfaces required for decorative sewing. On one end of the cam body 14 is a gear 29, and the body 14 and gear 29 are loosely mounted on the cam -shaft 13 and a gear 28 which is mounted on the cam support frame 26 is engaged with the said gear 29. A worm wheel 27 which is integral with the gear 28 engages a worm 25 which is mounted on the upper shaft 12. By this arrangement the rotation of the upper shaft is geared down to rotate the cam body 14.

A swing frame 15 is freely rotatably mounted on the knob shaft 24 and the hollow shaft 11 and a rotary shaft 16 which is rotatably mounted on the said swing frame 15 has a spiral groove 17 therein. A guiding pin 19 is mounted on a sliding sleeve 18, which is freely slidable on the rotary shaft 16, and is made to engage the spiral groove 17. A cam contacting finger 21 having a fork 21' are fixed to the sliding sleeve 18, while a guiding shaft 20 which is mounted on the arm 11 is engaged by the said fork21, and a gear 32 which is mounted on the rotary shaft 16 and a gear 30 which ismounted on the knob shaft 24 are coupled through an intermediate gear 31 which is mounted on the swing frame 15, so that the rotation of the knob shaft 24 is transmitted to the rotary shaft 16. The sliding sleeve 18 which is held against rotation by the guiding shaft 20 is axially shifted through the engagement of the spiral groove 17 and the guiding pin 19. As shown in FIGURE 2, the swing frame 15 has a lever 44 thereon which connects frame 15 to the well-known swing control mechanism by a connecting rod 45.

The front tip of the knob shaft 24 passes through the front wall 22 of the arm and a body 38, which has an engaging notch 35 in the front end thereof and a gear 38' on the periphery thereof, is freely rotatably mounted on the said knob shaft. An engaging pin 34 mounted on the head 24 of the knob shaft 24 is engageable in the engaging notch 35 and between the said head 24' and body 38 is inter-posed a compression spring 33.

On the head 24 of the knob shaft 24 is mounted the dial 23 which has a recess 23 therein and which is fastened to body 18 by a set screw 23". A rack 42 is formed on the lower side of a plate 41, which is rotatably mounted on the front wall 22 of the arm and the rack is engaged with the gear 38'. To the said plate 41 is fastened a pointer 40, while in the front wall 22 of the arm there is a long window 39 with a transparent pane therein. On this transparent pane is a mark 43 which illustrates the forms of the decorative sewing which can be carried out, as shown in FIGURE 1.

On the rear end of the dial 23 are a plurality of notches 36 as many in number as the earns 14' for the decorative sewing and in these notches engage an engaging pin 37 shown in FIGURE 2, to check the rotation of the dial 23.

In operation the dial 23 is pulled out together with the body 38 and, after the said notch 36 and engaging pin 37 are disengaged, the knob shaft 24 is rotated by rotating the knob by means of the engagement between the notch 35 on the body 38, which is fastened to the dial 23, and the said pin 34. The rotation of the said knob shaft causes the rotary shaft 16 to revolve through the engagement of gears 30, 31 and 32 and at the same time it makes the plate 41, which has the rack 32 thereon, shift sidewise through the engagement therewith of gear 38', so that the mark 43 illustrative of the decorative sew ing is indicated by the pointer 40. When the dial 23 is released, the body 38 and the said dial return to their original positions in which pin 37 and a notch 36 are engaged on acount of the action of compression spring 33 to check the arbitrary movement of the knob shaft 24.

The swing frame 15 has the projecting piece 44 fixed on it and, as shown in FIGURE 2, is connected through the connecting rods 45 to the swing piece 47, which is a part of the well-known swing control device, for example as shown in US. Patent I 3,064,602 to Danno, pivoted to the said rod 45. Rod 45 is pulled by the tension spring 49. The swing control device, which presses the cam contacting finger 21 against one of the cams 14 for the decorative sewing, is of the well-known type which gives a reciprocal movement to the sliding piece 59, which engages the cam groove 58 that swings according to the position of the sliding piece itself, and this reciprocal movement is suitably transmitted to the needle rod to govern its swing, while the sliding piece 59 determines this position and the size of the swing by the lever 48 which is supported by the shaft 48 so as to freely revolve. On the tip of the said swing piece 47 is mounted a pin 47' and on the swing control plate 60 which revolves together with the lever 48 is formed the notch 61, with which is engaged the pin 47', while the supporting shafts 53, 53 project from the inside face of the front wall 22 of the arm, while the parts 55, 55' which contact the cam 52 and control plate 60 are formed on the plate 54 that moves sidewise and has at both ends the notches 54, 54' which engaged the reduced diameter parts 53, 53 of the said supporting shafts 53. The tension spring 63 is tensioned so that the engaging edge 56 on the said swing control plate 60 is engaged by the part 55 and so that the cam 52 fastened to the knob shaft 50 of the hand dial 50 can engage the part 55' and move the plate 54 sidewise to shift to the right in FIGURE 3 to rotate the swing control plate 60. By'this action the sliding piece 59 is shifted by the lever 48 toward a position in which it makes a larger swing and at the same time the connecting rod 45 is made to shift to the left by the swing piece 47 to shift the swing frame 15 to the left in order to 'separate the cam contacting finger 21 from the cam portion 14'. When the hand dial 50 is released, the lever 48 and the swing frame 15 will resume their original positions by the action of the spring 49 and the tensioned spring 64 which is connected to the swing control plate 60.

According to the invention as above described, the cam body 14 revolves as the upper shaft 12 rotates and the cam contacting finger 21, which presses against one cam portion 14 on the cam body, swings together with the swing'frame 15 with the knob shaft 24 as a center and the right and left swing of the cam supporting frame is transmitted to the swing control device through the connecting rod 45 to give :the sewing needle the right and left swing in accordance with the swing angle of the swing frame 15 so as to automatically perform the decorative sewing that is controlled by the unevenness of the cam portion 14', while the forms of the said decorative sewing are indicated by the pointer 40 and the decorative sewing pattern 43.

When the form of the decorative sewing is required to be altered, the hand dial 50 is revolved to shift the plate 54, which moves sidewise, by the action of cam 52 and, through the swing control plate 60, the swing piece 47 and the connecting rod 45, .the swing frame 15 is made to revolve and the cam contacting finger 21 is separated from the cam. portion 14'. In this condition, when the dial 23 is pulled out and the engaging notch 36. and the pin 37 are disengaged and the knob shaft 24 is rotated by rotation of the dial 23, the rotary shaft 16 will revolve and the sliding sleeve 18 will slide axially by the action of pin 19 in the spiral groove 17 to shift the cam contacting finger 21, without its being hampered by the uneven part of any other cam or any other parts. Since the pointer 40 on the sidewise moving plate 41, which moves in conjunction with the shift of the pointer, will clearly indicate one decorative sewing pattern among the decorative sewing patterns 43 produced by the abovementioned selected cam, when the dial 23 and the hand dial 50 are released, after the required decorative sewing pattern has been selected, the cam contacting finger 21 will contact the surface of the selected cam portion 14' and through the engagement between the engaging notch 36 and the pin 37, the cam shaft 24 will be checked in its rotation to secure precisely the relative position between the cam contacting finger 21 and the selected cam portion 14'.

While a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described in detail, it will be understood that numerous modifications might be resorted to without departing from the scope of the invention as defined in the following claim:

What is claimed:

In an automatic zig-zag sewing machine having drive means, a swing control mechanism connected to a needle for swinging the needle for zig-Zag sewing and swing position control means coupled to said swing control mechanism for varying the swing control mechanism to vary the swing position of the needle, an apparatus for moving the needle laterally from the swing position thereof as established by the position of the swing control mechanism and consisting essentially of a plurality of side by side rotatable cam portions, a cam driving means adapted to be coupled between said drive means and cam portions for rotating them, a Swing frame pivotally mounted adjacent said cam portions, a cam follower mounted on said swing frame for movement along the length thereof parallel to the axis about which said frame is rota-table, cam follower adjusting means coupled to said cam follower for moving said cam follower along said swing frame parallel to the said axis, said cam follower adjusting means comprising a knob, a shaft concentric with the axis about which said swing frame is rotatable and on which said knob is mounted, a helical cam means rotatably mounted on said swing frame and on which said cam follower is rotatably and slidably mounted, and said concentric shaft and said helical cam means being coupled to each other, whereby rotation of said knob rotates said cam means and moves said cam follower along said swing frame, a linkage coupled to said swing frame, said linkage being biased for holding said cam follower against a cam portion, and linkage coupling means on the end of said linkage remote from said swing frame adapted to couple said linkage to said swing control mechanism for transmitting movement of said linkage to said swing control mechanism and movement of said swing control mechanism to said swing frame.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,034,461 5/1962 Urscheler 112-158 3,064,602 11/1962 Danno 112-158 3,070,050 12/1962 Holl et al. 112158 3,081,724 3/1963 Bono 112-458 3,111,099 11/1963 Nishigami 112158 3,148,645 9/1964 Aiki et al. 112158 FOREIGN PATENTS 938,417 10/1963 Great Britain.

FRANK J. COHEN, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT V. SLOAN, Examiner. 

